The Opelousas courier., 1887-03-05
MATCHING JEWELS.
Difficulty OF Making a Fine
Diamond Necklace.
Much Tame Needed to Collect Diamonds
That Will Match Properly.

! entered u wclt-known New York JeWelry
store recently in a great hurry.
81 want" he said, with some hesita-
ton, IA diamond earring to match this
one. / must have it by tomorrow with
out fail, as the pair is intended for a
birthday present. I brought this one
nd its mate from Europe last week, and
one was either lost or stolen"
/ The proprietor looked at the earring
critically, and smiled.
"You ask what is impossible" he
said. "That is a very fine diamond, and
cannot be matched in weight and color
i without great care, if at all. I might
| have to look at a thousand stones before
I could get one like it, and I might not
DC able to get one without having it cat
to order. There is not a jeweler in the
world who can match a stone like that at
a days notice. unless he stumbled on t."
The customer finely concluded to buy
another pair of earrings, and hive the
diamond he had put into a stud.
"That %stoue," said the jeweller to a
Sun reporter after the customer ha1
gone, holding up the solitaire ear
ring so that it flashed a dozen brilliant
c%olors, sis what is known to the trade as
fancy fine. 1t is a pure blue white stone
and of great value. | should say it was
worth $500 a carat. To match a stone of
that quality is very difficult. Although
within one hour I can examine a million
dollars worth of diamonds, ! would not
find one of the same weight, color, and
cut as this one. Formerly, if a jeweller
had a customer who was DESTROYS oil
matching a diamond Of this quality, he
would ransaek the jewelry stores all over
tie world in order to obtain what he
wanted. OF course, that made til, price
so much higher to the customer. Now.
adays jewellers prefer to cut a stone TO
order. 1t is not always certain even
then that the jewels will be exactly alike.
One canine always judge to a fraction of
a carat what the rough stone will weigh
after it is cut.
"With the less valuable diamonds this
difficulty is not so great. While the
supply of fancy fine diamonds in this
country is limited, there arc plenty of
the poorer quality of stones. In fac,
the supply of fine diamonds all over the
world is limited.
"The most difficult thing for a
jcweller TO obtain is a neck
laco of fac diamonds. To be-
gin with he takes nj large diamond.
After that all the diamonds in the neck
lace must come in pairs, one on each
side. The jeweller must be even more
careful about these than he would hav:
to be if they were intended for EARRINGS.
In the latter case the jewels are separate
and a trifling fault might pass undetect-
ed. But in a necklace where the Jewels
arc III one piece the slightest difference
IN color would not pass unnoticed ever
by an amateur. A stone OF q yellow
shade would look like a topaz beside a
white diamond. Even the slightest diff
ference in shape would be plain, and put
the necklace aronnd the throat of a
woman in fall dress and every fault
would become doubly pronounced.
1T sometimes takes a jeweller wears
to make a perfect necklace of fine dia-
monds. After it is begun there are a
great many changes before it is finished.
The work of gathering the diamonds for
a frst-class necklacc does not ply. The
profit on diamonds is only 10 per cent.
at least that Is all that a reputable
dealer charges.
"A customer ono came to US and j
asked u to make him a diamond neck
lace not to exceed $40, 900 in pre-.
That is, of course, a small price for a
necklace, in which there are from twenty
five to fifty stones. 1t took US nearly a
year to get it satisfac-
tory, and after counting
the time and worry lost in the work, we
found that our profits was less than s
per cent. That sort of thing does not
pay.
1--WE are 0 engaged in making a
necklace that will Cost $50, 600. have
standing orders with leading diamond
for q certain class of diamonds
for this necklace. It is intended for a
prominent Chicago society lady. We
have about one-half the diamonds neces-
Before it is finished, however. /
think it probable that the many changes
necessary to get it satisfactory will COM
pei us to lay aside half Of the diamonds I
now selected.
81 have made a handred changes in
arranging the diamonds for a single
secklace. With any other jewels this
extreme care would be unnecessary, as
lefects or differences are not noticed in
hem that would be gIaringly apparent
diamonds.
"onc difficulty, which is equal in the
of trouble it gives US to all the I